Jez and Morgead: Memories
by Jynxiii
Summary: A series of one-shots about Jez and Morgead prior to Huntress.
1. First Sight

**Well, I thought I should write a bit about Jez and Morgead's life together prior to Huntress. Series of one-shots. Won't necessarily be in chronological order.**

**I don't own Night World. Or Jez. Or Morgead. (This world is cruel...)**

_**Morgead**_

**First Sight**

"Fine. Go," Morgead's mother said, not looking at me.

He walked outside. His mother was getting ready to meet one of her many boyfriends. Morgead had asked if he could go out that night.

She didn't kick up a fuss. She never did.

He walked around in the encroaching dusk. It was almost seven, late for a six-year-old to be out alone, but not for a creature of the night.

Morgead whirled a stick around, pretending to swordfight like they had in the movie he's seen last week.

It had been meant for older kids. Morgead was allowed to watch older kids' movies.

He was sword fighting under a tree when the angel fell. She shrieked, long red hair swirling around her. She landed heavily on me, almost causing Morgead to stab himself with the sword. She leapt up immediately, saying "Sorry!"

Morgead stood up. She was definitely a vampire. She had that pale creaminess to her skin, that hunting light in those silver-blue eyes. She was a bit younger than him.

"I'm Jez. Jez Redfern," she said, smiling beautifully.

Morgead smiled back, not able to stop himself. "Morgead Blackthorn," he said back.

"Jez!" A voice called.

"That's my uncle," the angel, Jez, said. "I'd better go. See you, Morgead."

She smiled and walked away. Morgead stared after her. He was in love.

_**Jez**_

Jez had gone to the nearest playground with her uncle Bracken. She loved climbing the trees and swinging on the swings. She didn't like the sand pits. Sand always got into her eyes.

She was climbing the tree nearest to the big swings, singing under her breath, and she saw him.

It was a boy with a mop of tousled black hair and pale skin. Jez thought that he was a vampire. He was playing with a stick, swinging it around and making noises.

Jez didn't know many boys, but she knew that they were annoying. She backed away on the tree, not wanting him to see her. But her foot slipped.

She hit her shin on one of the branches and cried out in pain. She fought desperately to hold onto the branch, but fell directly on the boy.

She sprang up. She didn't want the boy to hit her.

"Sorry!" she said.

The boy stood up. His eyes were the brightest green Jez had ever seen. They were like jewels.

"I'm Jez. Jez Redfern," she said, smiling. Her uncle had always told her to be polite to strangers.

The boy stared at her with wide eyes.

Finally, he smiled back. "Morgead Blackthorn," he said. He seemed a bit shy.

"Jez!" Jez heard her uncle Bracken calling.

"That's my uncle," she said. "I'd better go. See you, Morgead."

She looked back over her shoulder when she was with her uncle.

The boy stayed, staring at her.

**Aww... He falls in love with her as soon as he see's her.**


	2. A Good Idea

**I don't own Night World. But I have a plan. Mwah ha ha. Jez is about 6 in this, so Morgead is around 7.**

_**Jez**_

**A Good Idea**

"But you should!" Jez said.

"Ice cream is human. Therefore, it is rubbish. I don't want to eat rubbish; I might get ill," Morgead said. He had that infuriating 'I know better than you' look in his eyes. But Jez knew that _she_ knew better.

"Not all human things are rubbish. Ice cream is really incredible. Believe me," Jez said, trying to be calm. She looked him right in the eye.

Morgead raised his eyebrows. "They're idiots. In the ten thousand years that they've had control of this planet, they have managed to single-handedly ruin it beyond repair," he sighed.

Jez crossed her arms. "Fine. I'll buy one for myself and eat it all in front of you. And _you_ won't get _any!_"

She swung her hair round and stalked off to the ice cream parlour by herself.

She hated it when Morgead got all 'I'm better than you' on her. She knew that this time she was right, not stupid, human-hating Morgead.

She ordered a chocolate ice cream (for herself, not for Morgead. He didn't deserve one), and walked back to where she had left him. He was sitting down, leaning against a tree. Jez licked her ice cream and stuck her tongue out at Morgead. She sat down next to him and removed the flake chocolate **(A/N You do have flakes in ice creams in America, right?) **

"I don't like flake. Do you want it?" she said, turning to him. He watched her silently for a second.

"OK," he shrugged and took it.

Jez watched him. She did like the flake, but wanted to be right. She'd made sure that there was a lump of ice cream was on the flake.

He put it in his mouth, and bit down on it. His face lit up.

"It's cold!" he said in wonder. He gazed at the ice-cream that was in Jez's hand.

Jez laughed. "Of course. There's a reason why it's called _ice _cream. It's really just cream that has been frozen and had flavours added to it."

He sighed and looked to the direction of the ice cream parlour.

"Can you come with me to get an ice cream, Jez?" he turned pleading, bright green eyes on her.

Jez grinned. "Are you admitting that you were wrong?"

"No, I'm admitting that you were right," he said. He smiled gently.

"Good enough. Come on."

They were both laughing as they went to buy an ice cream. Jez had won.

**Aww... They're so sweet when they have petty fights!**


	3. Best Friends Forever

**The funniest thing happened to my best friend today!**

**Georgia (my friend) has just been to see 'Up' in the cinema, and, being Georgia, she quoted parts of the film for the entire day. Her favourite was suddenly screaming, "SQUIRREL!!" then looking around. She started doing this almost continuously during lunch, but, unknown to us, our form tutor, Mr Barry, was in the room right next to us, with an open window. He stuck his head out and said, "Girls, is it a grey squirrel or a red squirrel, because we'd all like to know here."**

**Georgia, being the dork, said immediately, "Red."**

**Mr Barry nodded, then closed the window (after getting in, of course), and Georgia said to Lauren (our other best friend), "Crap. Can you go check how many people their are in there, Lolly?"**

**Lauren got up, looked in the window, then swore (something she NEVER does) and said, "Oh my god, there are at least 20 in there!"**

**We all got up to look, and sure enough, every science teacher in the school was there (there are about 25)!**

**I don't own Night World, or Jez and Morgead. But if I could I would, especially Delos and Morgead. I wouldn't be too annoyed with Ash and Quinn too :D Jez is about 13 here, Morgead is about 14.**

_**Morgead**_

**Best Friends Forever**

Morgead ran without stopping. He'd just finished hunting with Jez.

His mother had been missing for five days. He hadn't told anyone, even Jez, but she had noticed that he was quieter, and had voiced her concerns. Morgead had dismissed them.

He got quickly to the penthouse apartment, and ran through the rooms.

His heart sunk further at every room.

She wasn't there.

Where _was _she?

Morgead had a very strong longing for Jez. He needed to talk to her, to hold her hand.

He ran out the door again.

It was pitch black outside, about ten in the evening. Clouds covered the stars and moon. But Morgead was sure he could find his way to Jez's house asleep. In a coma, even, he'd bet.

He slowed down as he reached her street.

The driveway was short, outlined by flowers beds that he and Jez had planted. Each petal held a memory, memories he wouldn't give up for anything. He needed Jez.

He knocked on the door. Jez answered.

"Morgead? Are you alright?" Her beautiful eyes were wide with anxiety.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked.

She stared at him for a second, then nodded and stood aside to let him in.

"Leave your shoes here. Come up to my room," Jez said quietly.

"Not too late!" Morgead heard her uncle Bracken calling.

Morgead and Jez ran upstairs. They went into Jez's room and shut the door.

"Are you finally going to tell me why you've been... stressed... for the past few days?" Jez gazed into his eyes.

He gazed back for a minute, and then took a deep breath.

"My mother has been missing for the past five days," Morgead finally said.

Jez frowned. "For the past five days? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't want to make a big fuss of something that might have not been."

Jez crossed her legs, her head to one side.

"When was the last time you saw her?" she murmured.

"Monday," Morgead said. "I told you it was five days, Jez," he said, exasperated.

Jez ignored him. "Do you want to stay over for tonight? Maybe we could figure out a plan."

Morgead smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

Jez stood up and grabbed Morgead's hand. "Come on. Let's go ask my uncle."

Jez's uncle Bracken accepted, and expressed concern about Morgead's mother. Morgead told him that it was fine; she would probably turn up in a week or so.

She always did.

Jez and Morgead got a fold-up bed from the spare room and dragged it to Jez's room, right next to her bed. Morgead got ready first and was sitting on his temporary bed, his head in his hands, when Jez came back in. She had changed into white shorts and a blue tank-top. Her hair was loose and swirled around her, fiery red.

_She's so beautiful..._ Morgead thought. But Jez mistook his expression.

"She'll come back, I promise!" she said, and walked hurriedly to sit next to Morgead and put her arms around him. He held her.

He'd never been so happy in his life.

She pulled away from him, too soon, and smiled that beautiful smile, that one that made her seem more angel than anything else.

"I'm quite tired; we should get to sleep," she murmured.

Morgead nodded, not trusting himself to talk coherently.

A couple of minutes after they'd turned the light off, Jez held her hand out.

"Hold my hand," she whispered.

Morgead clenched it tightly. Jez moved closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

He lay awake for a long time, holding Jez's hand, her head on his shoulder, stroking her fiery hair.

For the first time in five days, he was happy, and didn't worry about the future.


	4. Kiss the Rain

**AHHHH!!!! NEW MOON!!!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 16, Morgead about 17, just before Jez takes over leadership of the gang.**

_**Jez**_

**Kiss the Rain**

"Hi," that voice said.

Again.

Whenever would he learn?

"Hello," Jez said, her voice dark and menacing.

The idiotic, pathetic excuse for a living creature didn't get the idea, even with Jez glaring at him, her eyes more silver than blue.

Matt did this every Friday.

"So are you busy tomorrow, Jez?"

Well, he certainly was very determined. That rat never gave up.

"Yes, I'm seeing a friend," Jez tries to make her voice kinder. The weasel was testing her patience to the limit.

The slug pulled out a wounded expression. Jez raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"Jez, please go out with me! I've been asking since the beginning of term!"

Jez stood up. She was a couple of inches shorter than Matt, but that didn't scare her. She killed gigantic thugs almost nightly.

"So, shouldn't you give up? You've impressed me with your determination, but I'm not interested in dating. Not you, not anyone."

"But, Jez..." suddenly his eyes widened in fear.

Jez had finally cracked. She had grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"You shut up and stop asking me out, or you'll be sorry. I'll promise you that."

She slammed him again against the wall, and then threw him across the room, then looked up at the doorway...

Right into the eyes of her shocked teacher.

"Jezebel Redfern! Go to the principle's office immediately! I will join you as soon as possible!"

Jez sighed then walked to the ever-familiar principle's office. She sat down in her usual hard blue chair outside the door and waited for Mrs Callum to come.

When she came, she glared angrily at Jez and knocked on Mr Simmons door. Mr Simmons opened the door, and rolled his eyes when he saw Jez.

"What have you done now, Jezebel?" he said, then he smiled.

Mr Simmons liked this fiery, beautiful girl, with the strange eyes.

Jez smiled back, "Hi, sir," she said.

Mrs Callum glared at her again.

"She threw a boy across the classroom," she said.

Mr Simmons tutted. "What will we do with you, Jezebel?" he said.

Jez looked down, not because she was sorry, but because she was afraid she might burst out laughing.

"Although, why did you do it?" he asked.

Jez lifted her chin, and looked directly at him. "He's been asking me out every week for the past term. I thought that he might stop if I tried to put it in his head a different way."

Mr Simmons shook his head and sighed. "Maybe you should have a break from school, Jez. Go home for a while and try to calm down."

Jez nodded and stood up. "Should I go now?" she asked.

Mr Simmons nodded and Jez went to her locker to get her books. She walked out quickly.

She wouldn't go home, she would go to Morgead's and wake him up. Since his mother had left he hadn't gone to school. No-one forced him.

She arrived at the block of apartments and ran up the stairs to the penthouse, where Morgead lived. She knocked on the door before entering.

"Jez?" he said, confused.

He sat up, his hair dishevelled. "What are you doing here?"

Jez grinned. "I'm taking a break from school. I was kicked out for teaching an idiot a lesson."

"Was it that idiot Matt who kept asking you out?" he said.

Jez looked at him curiously. There was something in his voice... almost _too _strong a hatred.

"Yes," she finally answered. She grinned, "I threw him across the room. It was just my bad luck that the teacher came in at the wrong time."

Morgead grinned back and relaxed. "Come in and sit down. You don't have to stand in that doorway all day."

Jez walked in, shut the door and sat down on the couch as hard as possible.

Morgead widened his eyes. "Have you gained weight?"

Jez looked at him. "No, idiot."

"Thanks!" Morgead said, rolling his eyes. He smiled sweetly and suddenly pounced on Jez, tickling her.

"Stop!" Jez gasped, trying to kick him off.

"Say sorry and I will!" Morgead said.

He held both her hands behind her back and continued tickling her.

"Never!" Jez said, in between laughing.

"Then I'll never stop tickling you!" Morgead growled jokingly.

Finally, Jez apologised and Morgead let her go. They sat back, Jez still giggling weakly.

"So, did you hospitalize him?" Morgead asked.

"Who?"

"The toad."

Jez grinned. "Oh. I don't know. Hope so."

Morgead laughed. "Go Jezebel Redfern!"

Jez narrowed her eyes at him. "Jez."

Morgead sighed. "Fine. Jez Redfern."

Jez smiled. "That's better."

They stared at each other for a second and something... changed. Neither of them were talking. Jez's hand shook slightly.

"Jez..." Morgead murmured. His expression was one Jez had never seen before. One of inexpressible tenderness.

Jez breathed slightly quicker as Morgead leaned closer. He put his hand gently on her cheek.

Strangely, she wanted this. She was scared, but not of what she would have thought she'd be scared of.

He was so close now. Their foreheads were touching. Jez moved closer, subconsciously wanting to close the gap and...

The door banged open.

Jez and Morgead jerked apart as the rest of the gang came barging through the apartment.

"Hey, Jez. We heard what you did. Nice one!" Raven said.

Jez felt Morgead watching her and laughed, determined to seem unaffected.

"Yeah, he asked me out again. I'm suspended."

"For 2 weeks. Mr Simmons asked me to tell you," Peirce said, laughing.

Val guffawed. Thistle and Raven laughed their light-hearted laughs.

But Morgead was silent.


	5. Fury

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 8 here, and Morgead 9.**

_**Morgead**_

**Fury**

It was Christmas Eve, and Morgead didn't want to celebrate.

"But that's not fair!" Jez said angrily.

She glared at him with heavily-lashed, bright blue eyes. She had one hand on her hip, her head cocked to one side. Her long hair tumbled down, the wind moving it like flames, and her white blossom skin reflected the white lights that were strung up around town, making her look ethereal, other-worldly.

She wanted him to come to her house on Christmas. As much as Morgead wanted to spend time with this angel who happened to be his best friend, he didn't want to celebrate a petty human celebration, even with an angel.

But Jez wasn't giving up.

"You never celebrate anything, Morgead! Humans aren't completely stupid! Some of their celebration, like Christmas and Easter, are loads of fun!"

Morgead watched her as she glared at him.

Jez growled in anger and threw her hands above her head.

"You're such a... an idiot!"

Morgead raised an eyebrow.

"That is _it!"_ Jez shrieked. "You are _coming! _You are _so _coming! I'll get you there if it _kills_ you!"

Morgead knew Jez hated being wrong, and people standing up against her. She glared at him again, grumbling something about stupid bloodsuckers under her breath, and stood up, starting to walk away.

"Jez?" Morgead called after her.

"What _now?!_"

"Merry Christmas!"

She stared at him incredulously, then turned around again.

**I know it's a bit short, but I had fun writing this one!**


	6. Bet

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 9 here, and Morgead 10.**

_**Jez**_

**Bet**

It was the first day of a new year of school. This year, the teacher had given them a seating plan, but thankfully, Jez was sitting at the back, on her own.

The first lesson they had was British History, and they were learning about the Tudors. A knock on the door interrupted the teacher telling them about King Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York to keep the peace. The teacher glared at the door, as if it was responsible for interrupting her lecture, and said in a clipped voice, "Come on in!"

The door opened, and Jez almost burst out laughing when she saw who it was. Morgead was standing there with an annoyed expression, the principle next to him, keeping a hold of his arm, as if to stop him running away.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your lesson, Miss McKeghronne. Morgead here has been held back a year, and we decided your class would be the best place for him to come," the principle said.

Jez smiled as Morgead looked at her, although not nicely. It was a smile of triumph. The teacher sight and told Morgead to come in. The principle smiled in thanks.

"All righty then, Morgead," she said in her Australian accent. She looked around to try to find a place for him. "You can sit next to Jez. She's back there."

Morgead was grimacing as he walked to the back of the class, where Jez was sitting. He had obviously not wanted to sit next to Jez. She waited until he had sat down and the teacher had started talking again to smile at him smugly.

"I thought that you weren't going to be held back," she whispered, in a perfect imitation of his voice.

Morgead looked at her for a second, then smiled innocently. "I haven't. This is your imagination," he whispered back to her. Very unconvincingly.

Jez grinned. "Nice try. Five dollars."

Morgead glared at her. "I don't have any money."

"Well, you should have thought of that before you made the bet!" she said back. "Of course, there's another option. You could do a couple of... errands... for me."

Morgead was silent for a second.

"Damn you, Jezebel," he finally said.

Jez just glanced at him in amusement and smiled angelically.


	7. Celebration

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 15 here, Morgead 16.**

_**Jez**_

**Celebration**

Jez and Morgead were planning to go on a haunted walk. It had been Morgead's idea, as it was Hallowe'en.

"You ready, Jez?" Morgead shouted up the stairs.

"Just a minute," Jez shouted back down.

She smudged a little eyeliner on, pinned back a couple of strands of her flame-like hair, then sprinted down the stairs, almost running right into Morgead. He held her arm to steady her and smiled.

"You're eager," he said.

"It's going to be fun. The humans are going to be terrified!" She laughed, excitement lighting up eyes.

They walked out the door.

_**Morgead**_

Morgead flicked a glance to Jez for the millionth time. She looked particularly beautiful tonight. Her eyes were wide with excitement. Her dress was simple, white with a blue design on the skirt.

She had a white-gold necklace with sapphire pendant. It had been her mother's.

Jez caught Morgead looking at her and smiled. He blushed slightly and looked away.

"Hope that you're not afraid of vampires," Morgead heard Jez say.

When Morgead looked at her, she had her fangs out. She jumped at him.

"Aah. Scary vampire," Morgead rolled his eyes.

He waited until Jez had retracted her fangs, then went behind her, caught both of her hands in one of his, and put the other at her neck.

"Yield or die," he whispered.

Jez relaxed against him until his grip was gentler, then kicked back and jerked away.

"Neither!" she sang.

She danced behind him, quick as lightning, and jumped on his back. She let her fangs grow, then bit gently on his neck, not breaking the skin.

"If that had been real, you would be dead," Jez said.

She laughed, then dropped gracefully from his back.


	8. Panic

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 8, Morgead 9.**

_**Morgead**_

**Panic**

Jez and Morgead were at an abandoned house. They had come here to explore, as they were young and inquisitive. Everyone said this house was haunted, so obviously, they wanted to check it out themselves.

Morgead had been moving cautiously, well aware of the lethal wood that was everywhere around them. Jez had always been the less cautious one, and Morgead flinched every time she banged her shin or arm. Which happened often.

"Be careful!" Morgead hissed as she yelped in pain, having again hit here shin against a rafter that had fallen down.

"Stop worrying so much! A couple of bruises won't kill me!" she said.

She walked ahead, her arms crossed and said 'ow' a couple of times as she tripped up.

Morgead watched her for a second, then rolled his eyes and started after her.

A terrifying creak resounded through the house, and Jez looked up fearfully, Morgead stopped and looked up too.

A scream tore through the house, worse than the yelps of pain that had come from Jez before. Morgead looked at her in time to see her plummeting through the floor.

Morgead stood frozen for a second, and everything suddenly became clear in a flash of intuition.

He had always known he loved Jez, he just hadn't known how deep that love was. He knew now.

He loved Jez more than anything. He couldn't bear life if she wasn't there to light up the day like the sun.

He would rather die, than Jez die.

"Jez!" he screamed. The cry was so loud, it hurt his throat, but he didn't care.

"Jez!" he screamed again.

He ran to the hole and dropped down. Jez was lying, motionless, her beautiful hair covering her face.

"Jez," Morgead whispered.

He gently pushed her hair back. She was paler than usual, and a cut stretching from her temple to her cheekbone marred her usually perfect skin.

Jez moaned and stirred.

"Jez?" Morgead said again. He leaned closer to her.

After an agonising couple of seconds, she opened her eyes. Morgead had never been so relieved to see her bright blue eyes.

"I told you to be careful, Jez!" he said.

Jez sat up.

"Ow," she muttered.

She lifted her hands to her forehead.

"We'd better get you home. Your head must be killing you," Morgead said.

"Mostly my knees, actually," she mumbled.

Morgead looked at her knees.

"Ah, ouch. Maybe you shouldn't look at that," he said. He dug around carefully in the splinters of wood.

"Is it really that bad?"Jez asked.

Morgead grimaced. "Worse," he said. "A-ha," he smiled triumphantly and pulled out a pair of rusty tweezers from the pile. He looked at Jez apologetically, knowing that she hated and 'doctoring' procedures.

She sighed. "Go ahead," she muttered, and she closed her eyes.

Morgead moved closer to her and started picking out the pieces of wood. He apologised every time she flinched.

When he had finally picked out most of the wood, he stood up and held out a hand to help her up.

She leaned against Morgead heavily, and he put an arm around her waist to support her. Her flinched every time he saw her forehead

"Do you need some blood? I could hunt a deer or something for you," he asked. She was getting paler by the minute, and blood dripped in a steady stream from her cut.

"That would be good," she whispered. Her eyes were slightly unfocussed. Her face was now completely white.

Suddenly, she fainted. She slumped against Morgead.

"Jez!" he shouted. He made up his mind quickly.

He gently lowered her to the floor and ran out the door into the streets.

Right ahead, there was a small forest. Morgead and Jez hunted there often.

Morgead managed to find a rabbit, and caught it within seconds. He sprinted back, faster than any human, and went right to the hole in the floor.

Jez was still lying on the floor, a pool of blood right next to her wound.

Morgead bit into the rabbit and rubbed some blood over her lips with his thumb.

Jez moaned.

Morgead put the rabbit right next to Jez. He put his hand behind her head and guided her gently to the wound on the rabbit's neck.

Being a vampire, she latched automatically onto the wound, and drank until the rabbit was drained. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, and she finally opened her cerulean eyes.

"Jez?" Morgead said.

Jez sat up. The wound on her head was finally starting to close.

"Morgead?" she said weakly. "I think I should go home now."

"Of course," Morgead said. He jumped up and helped Jez up, not letting go of her. "You scared me there," he said. He pulled her closer so that she wouldn't see that he was blushing.

She leaned against him.

"You won't get rid of me that easily," she said weakly.

Morgead laughed, and helped her home.

**I'm sorry if this was a bit rambling... Usually I have set story in my mind when I sit down to write, but this time, I had no idea where I wanted to end, so I ended with this.**


	9. Fearless

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 16 in this, Morgead 17. A couple of months after she takes leadership of the gang. It's in first-person because I couldn't make it work in third-person.**

**Phantom-Girl XD gave me this idea, so this chapter is dedicated to her. Thanks loads!**

_**Morgead**_

**Fearless**

I couldn't believe I'd subjected myself to this.

I hadn't thought when I'd asked her. The words had just come out of my mouth. Thankfully, she'd said yes, but not until I could feel that I was blushing scarlet.

"You ready, Jez?" I called up the stairs.

"Wait! My hair won't go right. Could you come up and help me? I'm in my room."

I went up the stairs and into Jez's room.

"Your hair looks fine, Jez," I said.

She glared at me. Her hair was in corkscrew curls to the middle of her back, and the top part was pulled into an intricately braided bun. Hairslides were dotted in the bun, jewelled with silver-blue topaz stones the same colour as her eyes. Her dress was stunning, silver-white with a pale blue hem, and came to just below her knees. She had a white gold chain with a pendant that hung just below her throat.

"_Fine _is not _perfect_. Now stop lying and help me put more slides into the bun," she said.

"I'm not lying," I said, but picked up a couple of slides and carefully put them in, trying hard to keep my face expressionless. Her hair was so soft, like silk.

"That enough!" she shrieked suddenly.

I rolled my eyes. "It's just prom, Jez. It's a human celebration. Not much to worry about."

She turned to look at me and crossed her arms. "If it's not much to worry about, why did you ask me?"

I looked away. "Thought you might enjoy it."

She grinned widely. "I will. I have a have a plan."

"A plan..." I looked back at her.

"Yes. A plan."

"Why am I feeling very worried for the poor humans suddenly?" I said.

She laughed. "Don't worry about _them. _It's you you've got to worry about."Jez looked at me innocently, her expression perfectly angelically.

I sighed. "OK. Come on."

We raced each other down the stairs and out the door.

The ride to school was eventful. We planned the next big hunt for in a week. My eyes drifted to Jez a lot. She seemed excited and happy. That only added to her already impossible beauty.

We got to the parking lot and into the big hall where the prom was being held. Other couples were already making their way to the dance floor, and several were twirling effortlessly.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked.

She nodded, looking a bit shy.

We walked to the dance floor.

Jez put hands on my shoulders. She was just staring at me with wide, diaphanous, cerulean eyes, an expression I couldn't understand in her sculpted face.

I held her waist gently and we started dancing.

Her wide eyes were childlike. She moved closer and leant her head against my chest. I held her tighter, letting my cheek rest against her flame hair.

We were silent for a minute. I didn't want this dream to end.

But it did. The song played the final few chords and Jez pulled away. Reluctantly, I noticed with relief.

She was blushing slightly as we walked back to the edge. Jez was walking close to me, our arms brushed against each others a lot.

"Shall we go hunting after?" I asked Jez.

She looked up at me. "That would be good."

We were silent for a while, but it wasn't awkward, thankfully. Jez leant against my arm, relaxed.

A song that she liked started playing. I turned towards her as she jumped up and she dragged me to the dance floor again. She leant again against mw as I wound my arms around her waist.

"Having fun?" I asked gently.

Jez pulled back slightly to smile up at me. "Yeah. I am."

She didn't look away.

My breath came slightly quicker as I leaned closer, leaning my forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. Her hands tangled in my hair as she pulled me closer...

And the song ended.

We jerked apart, out of each others arms.

Jez's expression was one of shock and I was sure that mine mirrored hers.

She glanced around quickly, as if searching for an escape, then said, "I'm going to the toilet, 'kay?"

I nodded, then turned away as she walked to the other of the hall.

I leant against the wall, trying hard to breathe evenly. I had always to kiss Jez. She was so alluring, I was sure everyone did.

I'd come close to kissing her before. She'd never fought against it. She'd always acted like she wanted it to happen.

I wanted it.

"Morgead!" I heard Raven shout. I looked up as she ran up to me.

"Jez collapsed!"

I gasped. "Why?"

"She needs blood."

"OK. Where is she?"

"Just outside the girls' toilets."

I nodded and made my way quickly across the dance floor and down the corridor. Jez was sitting down, leaning her head against the wall. Her breath was coming in quick gasps. I ran to her and knelt down.

"Jez?" I said softly, touching her cheek.

She jumped, her eyes snapping open. She slid back a bit, hissing. Her canines lengthened, longer and sharper than a fox's tooth.

I stayed still, holding up my hands, palms forwards. Jez's eyes focussed, and her fangs retracted.

"Morgead?" she murmured. "I'm sorry. You scared me."

"You need to hunt," I said.

I moved closer to her and put my arms around her waist to help her up. She held onto me tightly, her arms around my neck.

"Are you all right?" I murmured to her.

She nodded, but her face was paler then usual.

"Come on. We're going hunting," I whispered.

She nodded again and leaned against me heavily as we walked back down the corridor.

We managed to get to my car quickly and I headed for Muir Woods, knowing that it would be quiet.

Jez was moaning, hunched over in her seat, by the time we got there. As soon as I stopped the car, she opened the door and shot out for a vixen that was wondering about. Her lunge was graceful. I walked up behind her quietly as I could so as not to startle her, just as she finished the vixen's blood and and threw the corpse further into the trees.

She turned back at me to smile. "Thanks," she said.

"No problem," I said, smiling back at her.

"Can I go home now?" she asked softly.

"Sure," I answered, holding out a hand to help her up.

She didn't let go, so we walked back hand-in-hand.

Jez was silent on the car ride back, leaning her head against the window. Her hair was coming out of the bun and strands were sticking out in corkscrew curls. Her blue eyes were open, and they rested on me often. I could feel the weight of her gaze.

I pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. Jez didn't leave, just stared at me.

"What was the plan?" I asked, to alleviate the tension.

"Oh," Jez grinned. "I couldn't think of a good one, so the plan was to make you think I had a plan. It was meant to make you more nervous."

I laughed and shook my head. "You're losing your imaginative streak, Jez."

"I _really _hope not. It would make life rather boring, wouldn't it?"

"God forbid we let Jez lose her imaginative streak. It would make life unbearably tedious."

We both laughed.

After a few seconds, Jez said, "Thanks for taking me to prom. I enjoyed myself until I collapsed."

I turned to look at her. She was smiling softly.

"I enjoyed myself too."

She didn't look away, her gaze holding mine. Her breathing quickened as the silence deepened. My palms were sweating as I clenched the steering wheel tighter.

Jez suddenly blinked and looked away. I looked back out the windshield as soon as her gaze freed mine.

"I'd better go," she said shakily.

I nodded, still looking straight ahead.

I saw some movement next to me, but not in the direction I expected. I turned, and Jez's lips met mine.

I tensed, and could feel Jez tense too. I couldn't stop the shiver of happiness and pleasure that went through me. I started to kiss her properly, not able to stop myself, just before Jez jerked back, her eyes wide with shock.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, still tense.

"It's... it's fine."

She opened the door and walked, shakily, down the rest of the driveway and in the door.

_**Jez**_

I shut the door of my bedroom and leant against it.

My heart was still thudding erratically. It hadn't relaxed it's rushed pace since when Morgead and I were dancing, when he'd almost kissed me.

I touched my bottom lip. That had seemed... somehow... _more_ than a kiss. I'd never imagined a kiss could feel like that.

I walked slowly to my mirror and watched my expression. It was startled, but had some tenderness, some _strange_ tenderness.

I could see my bedroom door in the mirror. Morgead had walked through that door, just a couple of hours ago. I closed my eyes, trying to think when things had changed throughout the evening.

Things had been normal when he was in my room, helping me with my hair. His eyes had widened when he'd first seen me, but his expression became normal when I was teasing him.

When he'd held me, when we'd been dancing, I'd been shy all of a sudden. I didn't understand it. I'd hidden my face in his chest to hide the fact that I was blushing. And then he'd tightened his arms around me. Which had only made me blush more.

Then we'd danced again, and Morgead had been about to kiss me. I'd wanted it like I'd never wanted anything before. I could remember how his hair had felt when I'd twisted my hands through it, so soft. His eyes had been so intense, so beautifully intense. My heart had been beating so furiously, but being in his arms... it had felt so _right._

It had never escaped my notice that Morgead was handsome. Most vampires were. I'd just never noticed _how _handsome Morgead really was. And he was. He had pale, perfect skin that contrasted wonderfully with his black hair. His eyes were alive with life and light, and all his features were strong, but delicate. His lips were always ready to twist up into a smile at a seconds notice. He was nicely muscled. Not overly big like some boys. His muscles were lean, but they were definitely there. The only reason I'd never _properly_ noticed was because he'd always been more of a brother to me than anything else.

I'd escaped then. I'd been scared, and like anyone who was scared, I'd taken refuge. I'd asked Raven if I could talk to her, but I'd collapsed just outside the girls' toilets. Raven had gone to get Morgead then.

He'd taken me immediately to Muir Woods to hunt. And then... in the car...

My eyes snapped open. I realised that I was crying.

I'd leaned in to kiss his cheek and he'd turned, probably to see what I was doing. Our lips had met. Sparks flew.

He'd started to kiss me, and I'd wanted to respond, but the shock took over my body. I'd jerked back.

I wished I hadn't.

But his beauty, or the deep friendship between us, didn't decipher why I'd felt so happy when we were dancing and when we'd kissed. It didn't explain the white-hot stab of pleasure I'd experienced. It didn't clarify the aching in my stomach when I thought of him.

"Morgead..." I whispered, watching myself cry in the mirror.


	10. Author's Note

**This is a quick author's note to explain a couple of things.**

**Some of you may have realised that in my last chapter, I expressed that Jez does fall in love with Morgead. In the book she expressed, when they first realise that they are soulmates, that she didn't think it could happen out of the blue, without any prior attraction beforehand. I contradict this, and just want to explain why.**

**I think that it would be impossible that, after knowing each other for so many years, they would not have fallen in love before. On L.J. Smith's website, there is even a story about them and they seem to fall in love at that point. This only backs up my theory.**

**Morgead's personality is similar to Jez's in many ways, but I find that Morgead is the kind of person who would trust more, hence why he is the one who wants to pursue a romantic relationship with Jez in the book, before Jez even realises that she is in love with him. I think that he is the kind of person who would be keeping the relationship going and putting more into it than Jez. I imagine him to have fallen in love with Jez the first time he sees her, but Jez took a bit more persuading because she finds it difficult to love. She's scared that something will happen that will mess everything up, which is why, at the beginning of 'Huntress', she seems to hate Morgead. In actual fact, she loves him. In my chapter 'Fearless' she only **_**realises**_** that she loves him. She didn't fall in love with him at that point.**

**And the reason she seems to not love him? She pushes him away. She forces herself to 'realise' that she doesn't love Morgead, that she was weak from lack of blood or something like that. She represses her feelings for him by forcing him away from her. I would say this is the point when she starts to 'hate' him.**

**In a slightly quicker way to explain it, she falls in love with him a couple of months after she meets him, but because of fear, she subconsciously represses it and persuades herself that she hates him.**

**I hope this wasn't too confusing. I'm not completely sure how to explain my theory. If anyone has an easier way to explain it, please tell me.**

**~Jynxiii xxx**


	11. Sport

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 12 in this, Morgead 13. My best friend and I guest-appear in this :D This idea was thought up in our last badminton lesson. It was between this and dancing to 'Austen Powers'. We had to do that in year seven. I'm not kidding.**

_**Jez**_

**Sport**

It was PE.

Jez hated PE. Having to check her speed and strength so that she didn't stand out annoyed her. She loved running fast, through woods, racing Morgead.

Jez got changed in her usual corner, away from every else. The girls and boys had separate changing rooms, but had the PE lesson together.

Their half of the year was split into three different groups and each group had a different teacher. Jez was in the same group as Morgead.

Jez finished changing and made her way to the practice hall, tying her hair up into a ponytail. Morgead was already there, leaning against the wall. Jez made her way over to him.

"What atrocities have the vermin planned for us?" she asked quietly.

Morgead sighed. "Badminton."

_Well, it's not too bad, _Jez thought. "I'm going to beat you," she said.

Morgead looked at her incredulously. "Just because it's a girls' sport."

"You're just scared."

"Fine. I'll beat you. At a girls' sport."

"You should fit right in, then."

Morgead opened his mouth to insult her back, but the teacher calling them over interrupted them.

"Right, you can choose who you go against and choose one half of a court. We're working on outwitting your opponent. Try not to kill each other," the teacher said, her gaze resting pointedly on Jez and Morgead, who just gazed back at her innocently.

Jez and Morgead went together, naturally.

Jez enjoyed badminton, because Morgead couldn't play any kind of net game well. He was better than most of the humans, but nowhere near as good as Jez.

They started of gently, trying to keep a good rally going, but still forcing the other to keep moving backwards and forwards.

After about fifteen minutes, the teacher called them back.

"I won," Jez announced with glee to Morgead as the teacher started talking.

"What? No way. You hit the shuttle out loads!"

"And you missed it more than you _looked _at it. I won, Morgead, and you know it."

"Is this something you two would like to share with the class?"

Jez glanced at Morgead, just as he glanced at her.

"We were discussing the rules of badminton, and which line of the court would the shuttle as 'off'," Morgead said.

"If you would have listened, you would know," the teacher said.

Jez and Morgead looked down, pretending to be appropriately abashed.

"You will now play as a pair against another pair. This will be competitive."

She put them in fours. Jez and Morgead were with Georgia and Julia. They were both god, but not as good as Jez and Morgead.

Georgia served, straight to Morgead, and he hit it back to Julia. She hit it to Jez, who then hit it at Georgia. Georgia hit it right down over the net, scoring a point.

"Whoop!" Julia said, laughing.

She served, and that time Jez and Morgead got the point.

It continued like that for some time, until the score was nine-nine.

Jez served that time, and Julia hit it back. Jez had it again, and it went to Georgia. Morgead was close to the net, and he hit it straight down over the net.

"We won," he announced delightedly.

Jez laughed and high-fived Morgead.

"Good game," Georgia said.

Jez grinned at her. "You too."

"Come on, Georgia. Let's go play someone we can beat," Julia said in her soft English accent. They walked away to play one of the not-so-good humans, laughing and talking.

"We make a good team," Jez said.

Morgead looked at her, his eyes bright with happiness. "Yeah. We do."


	12. The Best Day

**Just came back from sledging! I'm the only one who didn't crash, LOL! Also 'cause all the roads are blocked from the snow, my dad just came back from a 15 mile journey. He took 15 hours. And Georgia went to a Paramore concert, which is in Brighton. Which is 4 hours away in good weather.**

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 15, Morgead 16.**

_**Jez**_

**The Best Day**

Jez packed her bag quickly, eager to go home. Since Morgead had stopped going there, it had been a boring place. They used to have fun terrorizing the teachers.

She walked down the corridor, pulling out her phone to check for messages.

There was one from Morgead.

_Wait school. I need 2 tell u somethin. Mxxx_

Jez sighed and walked to the entrance gate, leaned against it and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Morgead.

He finally came, weaving his way through the crowd. Most of the girls were staring at him, lust plain in their eyes, and the boys were glaring at him, jealousy plain in _their _eyes.

Jez looked back at Morgead in shock. He was handsome, she noted. _Strange how I hadn't noticed that he'd gotten handsome... _she thought.

His usually pale skin was slightly flushed and his green eyes were alight with excitement.

Jez walked the final few feet to meet him.

"What did you want?" she said.

He grinned and passed her an envelope as they crossed the street.

Jez opened it and a card fell out.

She read it quickly. It was a drivers' licence.

"You passed? That's great!" she said. She hugged him quickly.

"Yeah, it is!" Morgead answered.

"And on your first go to," Jez said, smiling in sudden amusement as Morgead glared at her. "I mean, I would have thought someone as idiotic as you would have to take it at least three-"

"Watch it, Jezebel," Morgead growled.

Jez elbowed him. "You watch it, Morgy."

"Don't call me that!"

"What?" Jez widened her eyes, faking innocence. "I think it's cute."

She shrieked as Morgead grabbed her around her waist and flung her over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" she screamed at him, punching his back.

"Not 'till you say sorry!"

"Never!"

"Then I'll keep you prisoner!"

"Morgead..." Jez whined. He just laughed.

"So did you get a car or whatever?" Jez asked after a minute.

"No. Motorbike."

"Really? Can I drive it?"

"No. You'll crash it just by looking at it!"

"And you won't?" she muttered.

"I've already driven it."

"And you're still alive? Too bad."

Morgead just laughed and let her drop to the ground.

"There it is," he said, gesturing grandly to a black Harley.

"It's brilliant!" she shrieked.

She ran up to it. "Can we go for a road trip or something?"

Jez turned to him, her wide cerulean eyes bright and excited.

Morgead laughed again. "How about tomorrow? We could go for the whole day."

Jez grinned. "Yeah. That'll be great!"

"Do you want a lift back home?"

Jez bounced up and down in excitement. "Yes!"

She tied her hair back as Morgead passed her a helmet and climbed on behind him. She held his waist tight as they roared their way to Jez's house.

Jez felt like she was flying. Morgead was driving a bit faster he should, and that suited her perfectly. Her ponytail was lose, and the hair band whipped away after only a few seconds, leaving her with the feeling that someone was yanking her hair behind her.

It ended, too soon, and Morgead pulled into the driveway. Jez slid off, still grinning.

"What time will you pick me up tomorrow?" she said, pulling her helmet off and shaking her hair loose.

Morgead was quiet for a second. "About half nine?" he finally said.

"That's good," she said. She passed over the helmet.

She smiled again. Morgead flushed and looked away.

"See you tomorrow," she murmured. She turned around and walked to the front of her house, feeling Morgead's gaze on her.

_**Morgead (This only worked in first person)**_

I watched Jez walk into the house.

Her smile just minutes before had been breathtaking. Her eyes always sparkled when she smiled, and the melted into perfect cerulean blue, with just the barest hint of silver. The most perfect colour. The unexpected dimples in her cheeks gave her a softened look; she didn't look dangerous when she smiled.

I started up the motorbike and went back to my apartment. I was looking forward to tomorrow – I always looked forwards to seeing Jez.

As soon as I opened the door to my apartment, though, the familiar depression that always was an aura here descended on me, making me desperately sad.

It was all due to loneliness.

It always was non-existent when I was with Jez; her presence was like a burning flame in the darkness and I knew that she cared about me, but as soon as I wasn't with her, it became worse and worse. Even being with the rest of the gang only helped slightly. I knew from several knowing glances directed at me from Raven that she realised how much I cared about Jez. She had realised how much I perked up whenever Jez was there.

I would see her tomorrow, though, I thought to myself. I would see Jez tomorrow. For the entire day.

I smiled to myself, the pressure in my chest easing somewhat.

The next day, I got ready quickly so that Jez wouldn't have to wait. I rode over to her house.

She was sitting on her window-seat, looking out. Even from that distance I could see the light blush over her high cheekbones.

She jumped down from the seat and disappeared, reappearing after a minute when she opened the front door, holding her arm and wincing.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"Banged my arm on the banister. Why does it have to made of wood?"

I laughed. "You ready?"

"Yeah!" she said. "Bye, uncle Bracken!"

"Don't crash!" her uncle's gruff voice came down the stairs.

Jez chuckled and closed the door.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Her smile was dazzling, and her eyes were as bright as flames.

"Anywhere! What time do you need to be back home?"

"Uncle Bracken doesn't mind. He knows that two vampires can take care of themselves."

We mounted the bike, and Jez put her arms around my waist again, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"Go on," she said. She kicked my ankle gently.

I kicked her back, harder, and started the engine. We roared out of her drive-way.

After going around town a couple of times, we decided to go out of town. It was midday by the time that we were in a small field, leaning against a massive oak, the bike next to us.

"Today has been really great," Jez said after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence.

"It has," I agree cheerfully.

"I can't wait until I get my licence. Only eight months 'till I can start learning!"

"Only you'll not pass it first time like I did. It'll take you a few goes."

She elbowed me in the ribs and glared at me.

"I'm joking. You'll do fine," I said. She smiled and leaned against my arm.

"Yeah. I hope."

She looked out across the field. She was frowning, her brow furrowed.

"Are you alright?" I murmured.

"I... don't know. I guess I just wish my parents were here."

She leant her head on my shoulder.

"Me too," I whispered to her.

"At least we've got each other."

I leant my cheek on her flame hair. Did she really mean that? "Best friends forever?" I said.

I held out a hand and she took it. "Best friends forever."


	13. Phone

**I'm sorry that it's taken like two months, but I have an explanation. I only worked on this in my maths class because our teacher is clueless, and we could get away with anything. She usually didn't notice if I had a notebook open on my desk which didn't have numbers in it. But recently I got moved up to a higher group, and I can't really afford to not pay attention now. I'm behind enough as it is. Therefore, I will be writing this story rather slowly. My priority at the moment is Huntress II. Not Memories or SuperStar, okay?**

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 13, Morgead 14. A couple of months before Morgead's mother left.**

**P.S. This is an anecdote. It was funny when it happened.**

_**Jez**_

**Phone**

The first day of a new year of school was always a hassle.

Jez would always forget that she had school the next day, and would spend the entire night with the gang, stalking some rival human gang or partying. The night before had been no exception. Jez hadn't got home until two in the morning, still laughing about Morgead almost falling off the top of his building, to her Uncle Bracken. He had said that he'd tried to reach her on her phone five hours ago to remind her that she had school the next day.

Also, as always, Jez had woken up late and had had only ten minutes to get ready. She hadn't even had the time to brush her hair. Only time to pull it back into a messy ponytail.

She leaned back against the brick wall that encircled the entire grounds of the school. Everyone hated the walls. They toward about twice the height of the tallest teacher, and if that wasn't enough, a chain link fence was upon it. No human could get out.

A vampire could, but Jez was too tired. She closed her eyes and leant her head forward. The strands that were falling out of the ponytail swung forwards from behind her ears. They swayed like fire in the wind.

She lifted her head as she felt Morgead approach. His emerald eyes were dull with fatigue.

"We shouldn't have stayed out late last night," Jez moaned. "You're supposed to be the one who's more responsible. Why didn't you remember?"

Morgead just glared and muttered something under his breath. Jez threw him a dirty look as the bell rang. She walked in the direction of the school building, Morgead following her.

Jez hated the idea of everyone going in because of a bell. She felt that it was strange that an object made decisions for people. It was bad enough if the teachers, who were nothing but vermin, ordered them about, but so much worse that objects were able to.

But because Jez was tired, she didn't rebel against it. Maybe tomorrow.

She ignored Morgead and went to her new form room. The teacher was already there and had already written up a seating plan. Jez scanned over it for her name.

And grinned.

She already knew that this teacher was new, but looking at the seating plan would have alerted her if she hadn't known. She was sitting at the back, next to Morgead.

"Sit down in your assigned places, please!" The teacher said. He had a strong Irish accent.

"The other teachers didn't tell him anything, did they?" Morgead murmured in her ear.

Jez shook her head and went over to her seat. She sat down and threw her bag carelessly under the table. It was resting slightly on her leg. Morgead sat next to her. Jez could see her classmates throwing furtive, slightly worried glances at her sitting next to Morgead. They all knew that once Jez and Morgead worked together, they could burn the school down if they could. Trying, of course, to lock the other in the fire.

The teacher started talking. On the first day back, the first two periods were always taken up in the form room, with the teacher telling everyone what was expected of them. Jez felt herself switch off, and leant against Morgead's arm.

Suddenly, he sniggered.

"What?" Jez whispered.

"His accent. It's funny."

Jez shot him a reproachful look. Morgead automatically glared back.

"Just listen to it, OK?" Morgead said, his whispering a tad exasperated.

Jez sighed, but did as he said.

"...and the last point is that there is no need for mobile phones in the school." The teacher looked at everyone with a firm expression. Most people shifted in their seats and looked away, but Jez and Morgead held his gaze until he looked away. They were both well accustomed to staring competitions. "There are phones at the school, and you do not need to bring in any phone of your own."

Jez noticed that Morgead was doing something under the table. She looked at him quickly. He was smiling slightly, but was fighting to control it. Jez raised her eyebrows and looked back at the teacher...

And felt something vibrate in her bag, against her leg.

That _idiot._

He _hadn't._

Jez looked at him again. He was watching her, amusement obvious on his face.

"And now, to go on a less serious note..."

Jez's phone rang out, signalling that she had a message.

The teacher's eyes snapped towards her and narrowed.

"Turn that phone off before I confiscate it," he said.

Jez was silent for a second. "I'm sorry," she said. "I forgot to turn it off."

"Then turn it off. Immediately!"

Jez bent to retrieve her bag and took out the phone, stomping hard on Morgead's foot. She stole a glance to the teacher, but he wasn't paying attention to her. She got the phone out under the table and opened the text.

_Sorry, couldn't resist! Mxxx_

Jez smiled before she could stop herself.


	14. Bracken's Cake

**I know it isn't very good, but I just had a load of fun writing this. And coming up with the idea :D**

**I don't own Night World. Jez is about 12, Morgead 13.**

_**Jez**_

**Bracken's Cake**

"So you're coming round to help?" Jez said into the phone.

"I suppose. You were the one who forced me to come. You didn't give me a choice," Morgead said.

Jez laughed. "Nice to know that I can scare you."

She hung up before Morgead could get into one of his Extremely Annoyed States.

The phone rang a couple of seconds later.

"Yes?" Jez said, after she'd answered it.

"I am not scared of you, Jezebel," Morgead growled.

"Oh, yeah? Well call me that to my face."

"I will. And anyway you're the one who is scared. You hung up."

"Then you're hanging up this time."

"No, you're hanging up."

"You hang up."

"No, you-" his voice broke off as Jez got bored and hung up.

As she went down the stairs, she received a text.

'_That was impolite, Jezebel.'_

She just laughed and went into the kitchen. Her Uncle Bracken was already sitting at the table.

"Did you get the recipe?" he said as Jez collapsed in a chair.

"Yeah," she grinned. "Your sponge cake will commence being made as soon as Morgead gets here."

The doorbell rang and Jez jumped up to get it.

"You're a wimp, Jezebel," Morgead said as soon as she opened the door.

Jez leaned against the door frame and raised her eyebrows before glaring at him as viciously as she could.

After a few seconds, Morgead said warily, "Are you alright?"

No answer.

"Jez?" he asked.

Jez smiled and stood aside. "Come in, Morgy," she said.

"Don't call me that," he hissed as he passed her.

They went into the kitchen. Uncle Bracken was still there.

"Now, I know you two are going to fight. Just don't break anything, and any mess you make, you both clear it up. Understand?" he said firmly.

Jez and Morgead smiled, the picture of innocence. Uncle Bracken shook his head exasperatedly and went out, shutting the door behind him.

Morgead turned to Jez. "You got everything we need?" he asked.

"Yep. I went to buy it all yesterday," Jez answered.

She opened the fridge and got out the ingredients.

"Where are the measuring scales?" Morgead asked.

Jez motioned to the right cupboard, reading the recipe for a simple sponge cake.

"We need to put the butter and sugar in first," she said distractedly. " 'Beat until smooth and creamy'?"

Jez and Morgead exchanged a glance.

"Are you sure you read that right, Jez?"

"B...E...A...T. That reads beat, doesn't it?"

"Does it mean that we have to punch it?"

Jez looked at the book again, then called out the door, "Uncle Bracken? What does 'beat' mean?"

"Mixing," Uncle Bracken called back.

"Oh," Morgead said, disappointment on his face. "That's not nearly as fun as I'd imagined."

Jez laughed and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Morgead measured out the butter and sugar. He started to 'beat' the mixture with a wooden spoon as Jez came up behind him to read the recipe again.

" 'Beat the eggs...', " she read out loud. "Weird humans," she muttered to herself as she went to crack open the eggs and put the yolk and white into the bowl. She 'accidently' poured some over Morgead's hands. He paused the beating to glare at her.

"You did not just do that," he growled.

Jez widened her eyes innocently. She knew that he wouldn't hit her if she put her 'cute-mode' on.

And smiled wickedly. She had a sudden urge to not be kind to Morgead.

"Denial," she said. She pursed her lips and pretended to consider. "Morgead, you know very well that denial is not mentally healthy."

He raised his hand and glared at her, daring her to continue.

Jez couldn't refuse a dare.

"And we all know that you're not the most mentally stable-" she broke off and jumped back as he flung his hand at her.

He hand didn't connect, though something wet hit her face.

The egg she'd poured over his hands.

"Morgead!" she shrieked.

He grinned and jumped back, dodging the fist that had been about to connect with his face.

"Yes?" he said sweetly. He smiled, putting on his own 'cute-mode'.

It didn't work so well on him. He received a fistful of flour in his face.

"Jez!" he said.

Jez just laughed.

"What was that for?" Morgead said desperately.

"You got egg in my hair!"

"Sorry," he muttered.

Jez crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Shouldn't we be continuing with the cake?" he said.

Jez sighed. "Fine."

They finished putting all the ingredients in and it in a 'greased baking-tray' and into the oven.

"Finally!" Jez exclaimed as they shut the door. "For a vampire, you sure are slow at beating, Morgead."

"Me? If you hadn't spent so long moaning about getting some egg in your hair, it would have been finished an hour ago!"

"You weren't even here an hour ago!"

"Exactly!"

Jez stuck her tongue out at him.

Morgead rolled his eyes. "So immature," he said exasperatedly.

"Immature is just a word used by people who don't know how to have fun," Jez said. She danced back from the fist that was aimed towards her by Morgead.

They waited the twenty minutes that was required to cook the cake and Jez got it out.

They both looked at it in silence.

"It doesn't look like the picture," Morgead said.

Jez frowned. The cake resembled a black brick.

"Get the book," she muttered.

Morgead got it. He scanned down the list of ingredients.

"Ah," he said. "We forgot the baking powder."

Jez sighed. "That's the problem, then.

"I have an idea," Morgead said.

Jez grinned. That tone of his voice showed that is was going to be a good idea.

He told her the plan, and Jez burst out laughing. It was cruel, but they did worse things to each other on a daily basis. Like putting egg in each other's hair.

"You cut the cake, I'll get what we need," Jez said.

He nodded and got a knife out from a drawer as Jez went to the sitting room. She came back holding an un-blown balloon.

"How about we fill the balloon with water instead?" Jez said.

Morgead laughed, his emerald eyes lighting up with a mischievous twinkle.

"D'you want to do that whilst I make an icing?"

"Sure," Jez said. She walked to the tap. She walked to the tap. She half-filled the balloon and blew some air into it, then went to the cake and hollowed some of it out. The balloon fit snugly, so she got the other half and put it on top.

"Is the icing ready?" she asked.

Morgead turned and nodded. In his hands he had a clear jug, with chocolate icing in it.

They shared a glance, both grinning wickedly. They put the icing on, careful to hide that there was a balloon hidden inside.

Jez and Morgead worked well together, when they could be bothered. Both of them were naturally cunning, and when they got an idea in their heads, they didn't let go of it.

"It's done," Morgead said as Jez picked it up carefully. He held the door open for Jez.

They made their way swiftly to the pristinely clean dining room and Jez set the cake on the table. She said "Tadaa!" to her Uncle, who was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. He put the newspaper down and looked at the cake critically.

"Hey, it isn't bad," he said. "Anyone got a knife?"

Morgead handed him one, and then he and Jez backed up inconspicuously. They didn't want to be splattered with chocolate icing.

Uncle Bracken poised the knife over the cake and pushed it down. Jez moved slightly behind Morgead as the cake exploded, coating everything within the radius of two feet with chocolate icing and water.

Uncle Bracken got a face-full of it. He spluttered and glared at Jez and Morgead, who were bent over with laughter.

"Clean this up," he commanded. "I'm going to take a shower."

He stormed off.

"That was _so _worth it!" Jez gasped in between laughing.

Morgead held up his hand for a high five, and they started cleaning up the icing, which had managed to get everywhere. The wall behind where Uncle Bracken had been standing had a silhouette-like shape, showing where he'd been standing.

"We make a great team," Morgead said, smiling.


	15. Fighting Part 1

**Watched Camp Rock 2. It was so good! Definitely worth the wait.**

**I don't own Night World. Jez is bout 15, Morgead 16.**

_**Jez**_

**Fighting Pt.1**

Jez never enjoyed leaving San Francisco for the countryside, and this trip was no different.

It was a perfect example of why she hated the countryside; she fell off her motorbike into a load of mud, a bull charged at her, though she was on the other side of the fence from it, and her motorbike got so filthy she had to spend an entire day hosing it down, then oiling it so it wouldn't rust, and then had to wait three days before it finished drying.

So she was excited when she could finally start packing the few possessions she had taken with her newly-oiled motorbike down the long driveway. She drove over ninety miles/hour, and as a result was home in less than two hours.

Morgead wasn't there, which, though she'd never admit it, annoyed her. He hadn't even called her in the month she'd been in the hell-hole. She pushed it forcefully out of her mind, and after greeting her uncle Bracken with a hug, she went straight to her room and collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

She woke up early the next morning and went straight to Morgead's apartment. It was a bit messier than usual, the floor a bit more scuffed, and a few fighting sticks lying about, clothes in piles around the floor. Jez sighed in annoyance. She would probably have to clean it up herself. She got out the wooden knife that was always tucked in her boot and advanced to the sofa where Morgead was sleeping.

Silently, she watched him for a short (_very _short. It wasn't like she enjoyed watching him) moment, then put the point of knife on his arm and pushed down to wake him up.

He woke up immediately, and swung his arm round to hit Jez. Once realised who it was he just rolled his eyes.

"That hurt, Jezebel," he said, leaning back and frowning as he pressed his hand against the small wound. "How was your trip?"

Oh of course. Now that she had the upper-hand, and the weapon, he was being perfectly civil. She just glared at him and pushed him to the side so she could sit down. Morgead didn't say anything else – she was probably in one of those moods where it was better that he didn't say anything, lest she'd find a way to hit him, harder than he would be comfortable with. Or possibly use that knife she had on him.

He felt a small niggling in his mind, doubt over what he'd wanted to talk to her about yesterday, but he pushed it away. He'd waited for so many years; he wasn't going to wimp out now.

Jez leant back and was quiet for a while. Another thing she'd never admit (because it was _hypothetical_, of course!) was that she might miss this place when she was away.

"How's the gang been?" Jez asked.

She noticed that Morgead tensed words.

"Good," he said, an undertone of embarrassment in his voice. Jez looked at him curiously.

He was watching her closely. Jez couldn't understand the expression in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she said, trying not to blush. Where had that come from?

"I..." panic was clouding his eyes. "I want leadership of the gang."

Jez blinked in shock and leant closer to him.

"What?" she said quietly. Dangerously.

Morgead's eyes narrowed. "You heard me. I'm sick of having to follow your orders. I'm older than you – I should be leader."

"It's not about age, you idiot! It's about intelligence and-"

"I'm intelligence!"

"Yeah, right. You never could keep up with the humans when you bothered to go to school."

She punched his shoulder as hard as she could without using her body to go into the blow.

It was probably the wrong thing to do.

Faster than a streak of lightening, he reached behind him, got a wooden fighting stick and slammed it against her arm. She heard and felt a crack as her collar bone cracked. She tried to hit him back, but with one shoulder broken and no fighting stick, she didn't stand a chance. He pushed her down against the sofa and put the stick against her neck. She tried to push herself up but fell back, gasping as the movement wrenched her shoulder.

"You can give up now," Morgead said matter-of-factly.

"I hate you," Jez snarled. She tried to push the stick off her neck, but all that happened was that Morgead pressed it down harder, so that Jez had to fight for breath.

"Just yield, Jez. You're not gonna win."

Jez glared at him as ferociously as she could manage. Which was pretty ferocious.

"Are you yielding, or not?"

_I'll fight him when I have a weapon._

Jez nodded. "Fine. I yield."

Morgead climbed off her and stepped away, though he kept hold of the fighting stick.

"But you'd better watch your back," she said.


	16. Fighting Part 2

**I don't own Night World. A couple of months after part 1, so same ages.**

_**Jez**_

**Fighting Part 2**

Jez was glaring at Morgead behind his back.

She hated having to stoop so low, but Morgead was the harshest leader of the gang. She hadn't realised just how much he'd grown to hate her. She was no longer even second in command. Right now, he was amusing the gang with a lecture on how to hide a human body effectively. Jez tuned him out effortlessly.

Thistle was curled up against Jez's side on the sofa, her breathing deep and even. Jez leant her cheek against Thistle's soft blonde hair.

"Morgead," Jez said.

He stopped halfway through a word to glare at her.

"Questions are for after, Jezebel."

That was another thing. He hadn't called her Jez for two whole months.

"It's not a question, idiot. It's a demand."

He ignored her. Jez kicked him in the leg. "Shut the hell up."

Val was watching curiously and Raven sighed. Pierce looked out of the window.

"Jezebel. You're not even second in command anymore. And I told you the new rules."

He had. He'd disposed of all of the rules they'd written together before the gang had even started and thought up of his own rules. Included was that anyone who insulted the leader would have their blood drawn once by every member of the gang, except for the leader, who would do it twice.

"I'll give you one last chance," Morgead said.

Jez gently shifted Thistle so that she was leaning against Val. She stood up.

"Sit down, Jez," Morgead said, turning back to the rest of the gang.

"We've done this a million times before, Morgead. We know how to stash a body!" Jez shouted at him, the frustration and anger finally boiling over.

"Even though we almost got caught several times?" he was glaring at her harshly. It gave Jez a strange feeling in her stomach, him looking at her with all that hate in his eyes.

She forced herself to ignore the feeling. "We used to have _fun_, Morgead. I know that you're too stupid and idiotic and... _pathetic_ to really know the meaning of the word now."

"Jez..." Raven said, warning her. Jez ignored her.

"You used to be fun, but now you're a joke. You don't deserve to be leader of anything."

Morgead was quiet, just watching her with a carefully blank face. "Jezebel. I'm leader now. I know that you're possessive, but I beat you-"

"I didn't even have a weapon!"

"-and that sorted it out. You're no longer leader. In fact, I've half a mind to exclude you from the gang altogether."

Jez glared at him for a moment, to angry to say anything. How dare he even think that! They'd brought the gang up _together_. It had been her idea. He could never banish her. She wouldn't let him.

"Morgead, I call you out."

Jez heard Val chuckling softly behind her. She fixed her gaze on Morgead's. His emerald eyes were wide with disbelief, and another expression Jez didn't – couldn't – understand.

She stood up straighter and squared her shoulders.

"I challenge you for leadership of the gang."

**Dum, dum, dum! I know that it's short... part 3 will be up as soon as I finish it!**


	17. Fighting Part 3

**I don't own Night World.**

_**Morgead**_

**Fighting Part 3**

Everything moved quickly after her words. Morgead glared at the others until they left.

He watched Jez carefully. She was standing lithe and graceful as always. Although she seemed relaxed, Morgead could see the tremors in her muscles as she stood ready. The red fire that cascaded down to her waist was waving from the wind whispering through the open window.

"I beat you last time, Jez," Morgead said. He was annoyed with himself at how weary he sounded.

Jez bristled. "Only because I didn't have a weapon! You gave me a split-second warning-"

Morgead ignored her. He was trying desperately to not remember why exactly he challenged her for leadership, but his mind was already on the wavelength.

Morgead always found it difficult when Jez went on one of her uncle's errands. She stayed away for weeks at a time, and as soon she went as Thistle tested him – ignoring everything he told her to do and taking reckless risks. As soon as Jez came back, she acted like an angel.

Val would just copy Thistle, the guy didn't have a mind of his own and chose someone new to idolise every few months. Needless to say, he never idolised Morgead when he was temporary leader of the gang.

Morgead had realised a long time ago the extent of his feelings for Jez, but until she was away for 2 months without even attempting to contact him, he hadn't realised that it could hurt so much. It had been futile, he knew, to force her to give up leadership of the gang indefinitely, in an attempt to stop her from leaving. She did it for her uncle. And, anyway, trying to tame Jez was as difficult and wrong as taming a wild mustang.

"Morgead?" he heard.

He felt himself snap back to the present. Jez was holding lightly onto her favourite fighting stick. He reached back without taking his eyes off Jez to get hold of the tiger wood fighting stick.

"Do you really want to be beaten with this again?" he said.

"Not really," she said. She sprang forwards swinging the stick towards his side. Morgead blocked and used his free hand to push her back, which succeeded only in her kicking his leg.

He was quick enough, though, to grab hold of her ankle and pull it so that she was meant to fall flat on her back. Of course, it being Jez, she found a way to get out, kicking off from the ground hard to perform a spectacular back-flip. Morgead was forced to let go of her ankle, and before he could recover, she had steadied herself and drove the blunt end of the stick into his stomach whilst swinging her leg to hook behind his and pushed him down.

This all happened in about one second.

Morgead was shocked at her sudden skill. They always used to train together, but she must have been training alone these past few weeks.

Now, she was holding the fighting stick against his neck, ready to force him back to the ground, should he try to get back up.

"That was really _too _easy, Morgead. You see what happens when you're leader? You don't challenge us enough! We don't need speeches!" She watched him as he glared at her, not allowing himself to say anything. He knew that she was right. "What we need is challenges. Difficult hunts. I wouldn't have minded too much if you could have done that." She took a deep breath, and shook her hair out of her face.

"Fine."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"You can be leader. You won anyway."

"Yes I did."

Her eyes narrowed as she stepped away from Morgead and she didn't look away from him, not giving him any opening to jump her from behind. Morgead didn't look at her. He couldn't believe he had let her beat him so easily. "The hell with it..." he muttered to himself.

After several minutes of fighting not to look at Jez, and her watching him warily, he finally gave up and glanced at her.

She blinked and looked down. "You know," she said slowly, pressing her finger onto the pointed end of the fighting stick, "I probably shouldn't let you, but you will be my second." She looked at him from under her eyelashes. "I don't hold grudges."

Morgead laughed before he could stop himself, risking serious injury.

**Well. The fighting trilogy is over, done and dusted! I've got a couple more, light-hearted ones. I like writing them XD**

**Don't forget to tell me how you think it went! BTW, I'm running dry on ideas. If you have a good idea, then tell me. The chapter will be dedicated to whoever gives me the idea.**


	18. Cooperation

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 9, Morgead 10.**

_**Uncle Bracken**_

**Co-operation**

It was the kind of day that every other day builds up to. A summer evening in San Francisco was always something worth waiting for.

The sun always set late on these glorious days, and right now, even though it was eight in the evening, the shadows weren't half as long as they would be in a few hours. The sky was still a blue expanse, stretching from each horizon and the sun seemed bigger in the sky, emanating the warmth that even the Night People enjoyed playing on their skin.

It was on this day that Bracken was smiling, watching his niece's attempts at lugging a plank of wood more than three times her size up the biggest tree in the garden. He could see the grim determination in her face.

Morgead could easily have helped her. He was standing under her, his expression worried.

"Jez, are you sure you don't need help?" Bracken heard Morgead shout.

"No!" Jez shrieked back at him. He'd been offering for the past ten minutes that Jez had been trying to get it up.

She might be vampire, but hauling a massive piece of wood is difficult for the best of us, Bracken thought in amusement.

"Just let him help you, Jez!" Bracken shouted through the open window.

Jez shot him the most betrayed look you could give anyone whilst dangling on a rope ladder and holding onto a gigantic piece of wood.

"Fine!" she shouted. She waited for one millisecond, then as Morgead was taking his second step towards her proceeded to shout, "I'm waiting!"

"Shut up, Jezebel!" Morgead said, but he hurried over to her anyway, picking up the tool box along his way and started climbing the ladder, grabbing hold of the bottom of the plank of wood, helping her to push it up.

Bracken saw what was going to happen a second before it actually happened.

The already frayed rope started splitting, and one side ripped loose. Jez screamed and dropped the plank of wood to hold on with both hands. Morgead somehow managed to dodge the piece of falling wood and jumped to the branch nearest him, then as the other rope snapped, he caught Jez before she could land on the ground. All of that with a tool box in his hand.

Bracken could see them arguing, but ignored what they were saying. It was always the same, anyway. He still kept an eye on them, though, just in case one of them gave in to temptation and hit the other with one of the many branches around them.

They finally stopped arguing and instead Jez started looking though the tool box, got something that looked like a hammer out of it and then started to climb up to the two useful branches where they had put the other planks of wood. Morgead followed, still carrying the tool box.

Jez started arranging the planks of wood so that they were lying flat and once Morgead had deposited the tool box and was holding the piece of wood so that it wouldn't slip, she hammered it to the branch.

It was all going okay for several minutes, and they both seemed to be rather more civilised than usual.

He should have known that it wasn't to last.

"Ow!" He heard Jez screech in pain.

"It's _metal _Jez. It doesn't hurt."

Bracken heard a dull thump.

"_Ouch. _Jez, you hit me with the handle!"

The handle was wood.

Bracken sighed as he heard some more dull thumps and shouts of pain. He should have known. Those two were never civil to each other unless he really threatened them. And you wouldn't think that they really did care for each other if you heard them most of the time.

The thumps finally subsided, and they worked in silence for a while.

Bracken should have known it wasn't to last.

"Morgead! It's not meant to go like that!" he heard Jez shout.

"Jez, it's symmetrical!" Morgead shouted back. "It can go any way!"

"There's a crack right there, idiot."

"There would be a crack the other side if we swapped it round."

There was a scuffling, and a loud sigh from Morgead. Suddenly a triumphant shout resounded down.

"I _told _you that it would fit perfectly," Jez said, obviously proud of herself. "What do you say to me?"

"You're a crazy bitch?"

There was silence, then an angry screech from Jez. "How _dare _you! You're the crazy bitch here!"

"Okay, more like a harpy."

A loud thud resonated down, louder than the others, and a body crashed through the branches. Bracken started forward in anxiety, but then the body, which had black hair, stood up. The only injury was a scratch down his arm.

"Are you alright, Morgead?" he shouted through the glass.

Morgead turned and grimaced at him. "Been better; shouldn't have called her a crazy bitch and a harpy."

"Figured that out, have you?" Jez shouted, still up in the tree.

Bracken got out of the house. "Jez, apologise," he said firmly.

She was sitting on a lower branch, but still too high to reach. She looked at Morgead, who by now was glaring at her in a way that would frighten a rhinoceros, then looked back at Bracken.

She said two words. "Make me."

And grinned.


	19. Suggestions Part 1

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 9, Morgy 10.**

_**Jez**_

**Suggestions (part 1)**

Jez wasn't surprised when she went over to Morgead's house, as she did every day, and saw that he was sitting outside, ripping grass up from the lawn. He was frowning, and although Jez wouldn't say it to his face unless he forced her, she was worried about him.

"What are you doing?" she said, stopping next to him. She crossed her arms.

He glanced up at her from under his fringe, but didn't meet her eyes properly. He looked away after a couple of seconds. "Destroying the lawn," he muttered.

Jez dropped to the floor next to him, trying to catch his eyes. He studiously ignored her.

She slapped him around his head.

"Jez!" he exclaimed. He forgot about ignoring her and glared ferociously at her.

Jez was horrified to realise that his eyes were slightly red.

She knew that she had two options. She could either laugh at him or comfort him.

Neither seemed particularly tempting. She had to do one, though.

"For goodness sake –" she stopped and shook her head. Morgead shot her a questioning glance.

It didn't feel right to snub him like that. Something inside her was telling her to comfort him, that he needed it. She leant her cheek onto her knees and watched him for a short second.

"She locked you out again, didn't she?" Jez said softly.

Morgead furiously wiped away a tear on his cheek before starting to rip up the grass again. That was all the confirmation Jez needed. She touched his shoulder. He didn't look back at her, but Jez could feel him relax slightly under her hand.

"You know that you can always come round mine when she does something like that."

He frowned. "I don't need your help, Jezebel."

Jez hit him harder over his head, then froze as she sensed someone behind her. She turned, seeing Morgead's mother come out of the house, dressed in a way that meant she was going to be out for a while, with some man she would have picked up at a club.

The dislike in her face was obvious as she saw Morgead and Jez sitting on the ground, silently watching her. All she did was look at them for a second, then locked the front door and stalked out of the gate, clanging it viciously shut behind her.

Morgead went back to ripping up the grass.

"I was thinking..." he started uncertainly. "Maybe we could start up a gang, or something."

Jez cocked her head to one side and bit her lip. "That's not a bad idea."

"Not many people."

"Seven at the most, including us?"

"Seems good."

Jez smiled, pleased that an excited edge had entered his voice. He sounded more like himself when he wasn't annoyed at her. It was one of those rare times when she really enjoyed being his friend.

They managed to find a few different people who seemed interested. It was almost too easy. So many vampire kids had been forgotten by their parents, and well over half were talented fighters. After a couple of weeks, and many 'heated discussions' between Jez and Morgead that involved branches and - in one case - a log, they finally decided on several people. There was Valerian Stillman, who preferred to be called Val. Even though he was only a few months older than Morgead, he was as tall as some adults, and much wider. His strength was astonishing, but he seemed a bit simple. There was also Raven Mandril, who with her pale skin contrasting with her long black hair was pretty striking. She seemed patient, which was a good quality when Jez and Morgead were having one of their arguments. Thistle Galena was a made vampire, who looked utterly harmless with her rosy cheeks and pale blond hair. She was ruthless, though, and had killed a lot of people before. Pierce Holt was Jez's age, but much taller and didn't say much, just watched them with cold grey eyes, though they rested slightly longer on Jez. Willow, she said she didn't have a last name, had dark skin and black hair in miniscule, tight plaits. She was a few months younger than Jez, and was the only one with almost as much telepathic power as Jez and Morgead. She seemed the most compassionate of the lot, which was strange in lamia.

It was gang worth waiting and working for. Jez and Morgead were pleased with them, and their imaginations were run riot with fantasies of them taking over the world, becoming the most important and powerful vampires in existence.


	20. Secrets

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 15, Morgead 16.**

**I had this idea whilst listening to the Camp Rock 2 soundtrack. Just thought it would be a funny one to write!**

**Secrets**

_**Jez**_

Jez peeked out of the school window. She _really _didn't know why, this time of all times, she suddenly had an instinct to actually do what the headteacher told her to. Probably because he had phoned Bracken, and Bracken had forced her, through his tears of laughter.

Jez had definitely _not _been laughing.

So, anyway, Bracken had forced her, so she'd had to concede defeat. Even though she would never have thought that she would have gotten the part. How could she know that she had 'a natural and pure singing voice'? She never sang in public. Only in places where no-one (by no-one, of course she meant Morgead) could hear. And yesterday, she found herself singing one of the songs when she was copying her homework from Pierce, and had only realised when Raven elbowed her in the ribs. Alas, the damage had been done, and Morgead's shocked expression had transformed into one of great amusement as Jez slowly turned red.

The only person Jez had told was Raven. And she had immediately regretted it. She'd never seen anyone laugh so much in her life. Raven had apologised after several minutes of Jez glaring at her, the tears still streaming down her face.

Jez tugged on her hair as the head of the drama department started talking.

She never knew that she would actually get the part! She had purposefully auditioned for the most popular part, then had stupidly got caught up in the moment and had tried her best.

And now she was here. In the actual hell.

She jerked herself into reality as one of the helpers handed her a script, with the main part highlighted. She almost gagged as she saw the name of the piece.

Although, to be fair, though she'd never admit it, she had enjoyed the movie. It was a welcome change from the movies Morgead chose. He always chose the movies. She was _sick _of watching Top Gun. He knew all the words, anyway.

"We'll be rehearsing scene four today!"

Jez turned the page, after almost gagging at the name again.

_High School Musical_. She, Jez Redfern, of the oldest family of the lamia, merciless vampire, leader of a gang which broke Night World laws, was going to play Gabriella in High School Musical.

"Get to your places, everybody."

Jez closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. _You agreed to it, girl. You have to go through with it._

_Although, never trust your own judgement again. It's not worth the pain._

She opened her eyes before following the people to the stage, realising that a couple were looking at her in disbelief and whispering between themselves. She gave them the death glare that she usually reserved only for Morgead and went to the back corner of the stage.

"Miss Redfern! You must be at the front. We are about to start."

Mrs Fitzpatrick, the performing arts head, gave Jez an uncertain smile as she went to the front. The school band started playing their instruments very off-key and Jez took a deep breath, ignored the shame which was burning through her and started singing.

She could feel the shock of the humans behind her as they heard her sing, and a couple of students who'd been giggling together in the back row suddenly shut up and turned towards her. The one in the middle, with the tightly curled black hair's mouth actually dropped open.

And then it got even worse.

Jez closed her eyes and tried to forget where she was as she sang. It was a pity that she didn't stay true to her instincts and kept a look-out, for then she might have had time to duck down or possibly move to Uganda and change her name to Beatrice.

However, her eyes were closed, and she didn't see when Morgead poked his head around the double door. She did feel the shock in his mind, and opened her eyes, immediately catching his emerald eyes with her blue topaz ones.

She froze as Morgead's shocked face transformed into a wickedly handsome amused one.

_Notes to self: 1, Kill Raven. 2, Run as fast and far away from Morgead as possible. Maybe do the Uganda thing._


	21. Suggestions Part 2

**I don't own Night World. Jez is 11, Morgead 12.**

_**Jez**_

**Suggestions (part 2)**

Some time had passed since Morgead had suggested starting a gang, and it was flourishing. They trained every couple of days, harnessing and fine-tuning their physical and supernatural skills. Jez and Morgead were the strongest by far, and they had many heated discussions as to who should be the leader. After a while, Morgead finally agreed, though Jez could tell he was chafing at the bit. He was second-in-command, though, and would take over whenever Jez couldn't make it to hunts or training.

They made up rules for the gang as well. Jez tried to get them all to bow to her whenever she came into the room (apart from Morgead, who would have to curtsey) but gave up when Morgead almost knocked her out at the suggestion. She told herself that she would appoint the rule once she knew how to fight better. That time, _she_ would knock out Morgead, not the other way around.

Willow and Thistle were physically quite weak, though both were relatively strong telepathically, although Val was the other way around. Raven was probably the cleverest. Jez had no idea what Pierce was good at, and when she asked Morgead he said he had no idea either.

They took to mostly feeding on homeless young teenagers, as they were always easy to manipulate and it was easy to hide the bodies. It went without saying that no-one noticed that there were homeless people missing. The human world was as cruel as the Night World in some respects.

Each time they drained a human dry, which wasn't very often, they would gain power. Every now and then Jez would allow them to kill a human, but she was clever enough to know not to kill every time she fed. Usually she reserved that for a birthday treat, or national holiday. Like July 4th.

Morgead seemed much happier now. Jez was relieved, but of course if Morgead ever asked she would just hit him. She doubted he ever would, anyway.

After a while of hunting homeless people, they decided to take on rival human gangs. The first couple went without mishap, but the third was one that would forever remain engraved in Jez's mind.

It was a perfectly ordinary April afternoon, a couple of weeks before Morgead's birthday. As Jez was going away for a while and wouldn't be with him for his birthday, they decided to hunt and drain the humans that night. Thistle, who was a master tracker, had found a gang which was killing teenage girls. The police had no idea who they could be, or even that the murders were related, so Jez's gang did what they always did and took matters into their own hands.

The preparation for the hunt was very simple. They all wore black jeans, military boots and black leather jackets. Jez had tried for motorbikes, but none of them (except maybe Val) could pass for old enough to ride them, and controlling the minds of the many policemen who had converged upon them had taken a lot out of her. She'd almost fainted, and with Morgead scrutinising her every move she couldn't afford to show weakness.

They met the same place they always did, which was an old, semi-burnt-down fire station. Jez always appreciated the irony.

Morgead was already there, looking bored.

"I thought I was early," she said.

"Apparently not," Morgead said, in a tone which meant he didn't want to speak to her. Jez glared at him incredulously before sighing and shaking her head. It wasn't worth the effort. If her so-called best friend wanted to be miserable, then so be it. She didn't care, anyway.

The rest of the gang arrived within ten minutes.

"Ready?" Jez said, smiling in anticipation of the hunt. She loved every minute of it.

They settled themselves near to where they knew the rival gang met up. They stayed quiet until they could hear the entire gang. There were seven people. One for each member of Jez's gang.

Jez leaned against the wall of the abandoned house where the rival gang were having a meeting. She tapped her feet impatiently on the tarmac until Morgead threw her a look, then sighed and hit at him a bit with her telepathy. It didn't hurt him; she didn't mean it to.

Finally she heard what she was waiting for. The gang was going down the stairs to come out the front door. Jez motioned with her head, and immediately her gang melted into the shadows, until only Thistle was visible. She enjoyed acting the scared child.

Thistle started crying as the gang came out. They looked at each other in bewilderment, before one of them smiled maliciously.

He had a switchblade hidden in his hand.

This was the only part Jez hated of the hunt. The men, who were all full-grown men, not just pretending to be, moved towards the slight, almost angelic looking little girl. They stopped a few metres away, not wanting her to be scared.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" the leader said in a gentle, but poisonous voice.

Jez felt Morgead tense next to her.

Thistle came out perfectly with a story about how she'd been separated from her parents at the park and couldn't find them or the car or the house. She even had a lisp.

The men exchanged glances with each other excitedly.

Jez's lips pulled back from her teeth. She nodded to the gang and they positioned themselves behind the rival gang in an upside-down V. Jez at the front, Morgead to her left, Raven to her right. Jez blocked the flow of information that was coming from the other gang leader's mind. His thoughts were sickening.

_He deserves to die_, Jez heard Morgead's telepathic voice.

_They all do_, Jez thought back.

"Why don't you come with us, sweetheart," the leader said. He moved forwards to put a possessive arm around Thistle's shoulders. He glanced back to make sure he wasn't being watched...

And froze when he saw the six children watching him coolly, with a knowledge and experience in their eyes that usually only adults had.

"What the...?" he said.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Jez asked. She knew her eyes were going silvery as she went into hunt mode. She didn't show her fangs, though. She wanted to keep that surprise for later.

The other gang watched in bewilderment.

"Taking this girl to her parents," the leader said, that poisonous, sickening tone to his voice again. He looked at Jez a bit closer, and smiled appreciatively. "Come to think of it, you look lost, sweetheart. Why don't you come with me?"

Urgh. Paedophile. Jez felt her lips curl back until she felt Morgead's mind for a second, felt the rage and disgust and overwhelming protectiveness.

She just about managed to keep herself from gasping from the intensity of his feelings, but still shot a glance to him. He was watching the leader of the rival gang with open, fiery, overwhelming hatred.

_The leader's mine,_ he told her telepathically without tearing his gaze from the gang.

_Fine_, Jez thought back.

She nodded in the way that meant that the gang could show their fangs. Jez smiled at them, knowing that the rest of her gang was mirroring her actions perfectly.

Their mouths dropped open and their faces went pale white. One of them crossed himself, and the leader started trembling. He turned to see Thistle's fangs. No longer did she look like a fragile petal, unable to protect herself.

"Do you believe in redemption?" Jez asked, putting her head to one side and making sure her fangs were always in view.

A couple of the gang members nodded weakly, their faces still blanched.

"That's a pity. Because I don't," Jez said softly. This was the cue for the gang to pounce.

It took a few seconds to reach the rival gang, and by that time a couple of them had already started running. Jez saw Morgead catch the leader and sink his fangs into the neck. Thistle, Val, Raven and Pierce also caught theirs quickly. Jez's and Willow's were much faster runners and, abandoning their other gang members, made for the row of trees at the end of the road. They went opposite directions, and Willow and Jez chose their prey quickly.

Jez was a fast runner, even for a vampire, and caught up to him quickly. She ran just behind him for a minute, purposefully hitting the ground hard at every stride so that he would be even more scared, until he finally went too fast for his feet to handle and went head over heels for several meters.

He started to try to get up and flee again but Jez caught hold of his hand, twisting his arm until she felt the shoulder dislocate. He screamed.

"I don't believe in redemption," she whispered before plunging her fangs into his neck and drinking deeply. His muscles shook uncontrollably, and he cried out whenever he jolted his dislocated shoulder. Jez hit him there several times for good measure.

She was draining the last drops from his now unmoving body when she heard the scream.

It wasn't a man's scream. This one made her suddenly very terrified, for what, she didn't know. She quickly stashed the body in a very useful hollow tree and shot off in the direction of the scream.

The first thing she noticed was the scent of blood in the air. It wasn't human blood, but was similar enough for her to recognise it. She crashed through a bush...

And slid to a halt at the horrific scene before her eyes.

She knew that there was danger whenever she went near wood, but she never could have imagined it to be as terrifying as this.

There was no human. He must have fled, but Willow... Willow was lying on the ground with a ragged, spiky branch through her stomach.

She was still alive, although barely. Her breath was coming in gasps, and even though she was dark-skinned, she seemed incredibly pale. Her dark brown eyes fluttered helplessly, tears leaking out and sliding down her cheeks.

She moaned, and that was all Jez needed. She ran to her side and knelt, holding the small girl's hand, stroking a stray plait back in place.

Willow's breathing became more laboured.

"No..." Jez whispered. She could feel her own tears dripping down her face. She tightened her hand around Willow's before screaming, mentally and physically, "_Morgead!"_ as loud as she could. He would know what to do. He _had _to know what to do.

Willow fixed her gentle, kind brown eyes on Jez. Which were still gentle and kind even through the fear and the pain.

"Don't you dare give up, Willow. We'll save you. Morgead will know what to do. He'll know something the rest of us have forgotten. I promise."

A small laugh came to Willow's lips, and some blood leaked out of her mouth. She coughed, and moaned before closing her eyes.

"Don't close your eyes!" Jez shouted. She opened them slowly, laboriously, as if even this small feat was beyond her strength. Jez felt more tears leak out of her eyes. They landed on Willow's face.

"Jez! What's-" Morgead stopped speaking as he saw the carnage.

Jez turned her face to him, but only for a second. She couldn't bear to look away from Willow. "Save her. You have to save her."

Morgead came to Willow's side and took hold of her other hand. "I... can't," he whispered as Jez brushed the tiny black plaits back. Willow closed her eyes, and that time it felt... final. Jez let out a sob as Willow's breath escaped her in a huff, but she didn't breathe in.

Jez let go of the small hand and felt more tears coming. She ducked her head forwards, her body shaking with sobs.

"Jez..." Morgead whispered next to her. He came closer but she jerked back.

"Why didn't you know how?" she whispered, so quietly that even Morgead had to strain to hear her. "Why didn't you save her?" this time it was as loud as the other had been soft.

Somehow, although she didn't know how, she was standing. Morgead was still crouching next to Willow. She staggered back a few steps until her back met a tree, and her strength seemed to dissolve. She sank to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees tightly to stop her from breaking into a million pieces. She didn't notice when Morgead came up to her again, but she felt his arms around her. She had some feeling that he shouldn't be seeing her lose control in this way, but she couldn't help it.

And she needed someone to comfort her. She turned towards him and buried her face into his shoulder, grateful that his arms were comforting and familiar. He said nothing, just stroked her hair and at one point kissed her neck. Jez didn't mind, though. She was past caring about trivial things like her arguments with Morgead. Right now, at this moment, that was what she needed.

She didn't look back at the little vampire that was lying on the ground next to them.


	22. Punishment

**I don't own Night World. Jez 13, Morgead 14.**

**Punishment**

Jez didn't want to admit it. Even just to herself.

It wasn't as if it was always true. Just a little feeling now and then when she let her guard down. It was in circumstances like this, when it would take too much effort and bother to directly and obviously go against the authority. Even if they were human.

She never missed Morgead at any other time, anyway.

"Miss Redfern?"

Jez jumped and sat up straight abruptly, realising that she'd almost fallen asleep face-down on the table. She heard a snicker from the other side of the room, probably Morgead.

"I recommend you refrain from falling asleep in my classroom."

Jez blinked, trying to clear her head. Only physics lessons could make a vampire foggy.

_Alright, gormless? _Morgead said in her mind. She frowned and pushed him out forcefully, though she could still feel his amusement. She looked over to him. He was looking back at her, leaning against the table behind him, long legs stretched in front of him. His eyes were bright and mocking.

Jez decided to ignore him.

It wasn't as if she could have time to miss him. Seriously, the guy was always with her. Sometimes she had to get away because she was so sick of seeing his face all the time. But at least then she could _chose_ when to go.

She was distracted by a strange sight. The teacher was standing at the front with a short length of rope, spinning round a rubber bung like a lasso.

Jez blinked. _Okay, I'm so bored I've started hallucinating?_

"...so, as you can see, the centripetal force keeps it going in a circle. What will happen if the centripetal force is cut out, Morgead?"

Jez turned to see Morgead looking completely stumped.

_Jez?_ she heard. Morgead's mental voice. _A little help?_

_It explodes._

"It'll explode?" he said, completely seriously.

Jez bit on her lip and fought a laugh.

"Listen in future," the teacher said, exasperated. Jez was sure she should have learnt that Morgead didn't know anything about anything. Especially if it was as useless as this.

Morgead turned to Jez with a confused expression, then apparently caught up and glared at her.

_Gullible child_.

This time he forced her out. Jez smiled angelically at him. For the first time in several months, she actually payed attention to the teacher.

No kidding. All they had to do was swing the bung around like a damn lasso. Even Val could have done it.

Jez knew exactly what she was going to do. She built up power in the swing , until it was going faster than human eyes could track it. Finally, she let it fly towards Morgead's table, thinking '_incoming!'_ right at him. He ducked just in time, even being kind enough to pull down the girl who was next to him, who laughingly said, "We're under attack!"

"Miss Redfern!"

Oops. "Just testing out the centripetal force, miss. It's not very good."

"You're supposed to keep hold of it, Jez," Morgead called out.

Jez fought back a smile. "That would be why. You could have explained it better."

Two spots of bright red had appeared on her cheeks. "Get out," she said. "You too," she threw to Morgead.

They sat down in their normal places, the soft chairs just outside the door, both of them grinning.

It wasn't really much of a punishment.


End file.
